NCAA Tournament: Baylor's top two scorers are from Louisiana

Baylor Coach Scott Drew, whose father Homer was an assistant at LSU from 1972 to 1976, had to leave the Lone Star State at least twice to find his top two scorers heading into Thursday’s opening-round NCAA Tournament game against Sam Houston State at the New Orleans Arena.

Michael DeMocker/The Times-PicayuneBaylor's two leading scorers, including Tweety Carter of Reserve Christian, are from Louisiana.

Both leading scorer LaceDarius Dunn (19.4) and second-leading scorer Tweety Carter (15.7) are from Louisiana, as Dunn prepped at Excelsior Christian in Monroe and Carter starred at Reserve Christian.

Both schools are now defunct.

“Well, the great thing about our location is we have a national niche being a great academic private school, also the largest Baptist school in the nation, ” said Drew, whose brother Bryce played for the Hornets. “So we recruit worldwide.

“But as far as Louisiana, it’s close, our coaching staff is familiar with the state. My dad coached at LSU. We come down here just to eat. So recruiting makes it easy. There’s a lot of great talent in this state, and we’ll continue to recruit here most definitely.”

11 TO REMEMBER: His team didn’t win, but Sam Houston State senior guard Corey Allmond had Kentucky fans clapping in appreciation after his 37-point performance that included a Rupp Arena-record 11 3-pointers in a 102-92 loss to the Wildcats in November.

“When the game was over, a lot of people were yelling and stuff, ” Allmond said.

“Then we went to Cancun (for the Cancun Classic) and we were all like in the same place. A lot of Kentucky fans asked for my autograph. It was just amazing that they gave me all that type of support for coming to their place and playing like that.”

On Thursday, Kentucky Coach John Calipari said he was using Allmond’s performance as an example of what can happen in the NCAA Tournament.

“I saw Bob (Sam Houston Coach Bob Marlin) in the hallway and I said, ’You made 19 3s, ’ ” he said. “Bob said, ’We made 18, but I had one guy make 11, ’

“Sam Houston had us beat. Everybody we play comes at us like that.”

TIME FOR A CHANGE?: If Old Dominion had not won the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament, the Monarchs might have wound up on the wrong side of the bubble, but ODU Coach Blaine Taylor said he has mixed feelings about expanding the tourney field from 65 to 96 teams.

“We won the CIT (CollegeInsider.com Tournament) championship last year beating four 20-plus-win teams that were very, very good, ” he said.

“So you know there are kids who deserve that kind of opportunity.

“But what happens with the Masters? What happens with the calendar? Is it really going to benefit people with byes and playing around with the format? I’d have to see the format before I agree with it completely.”

START TO FINNISH: Suffice to say, there aren’t many Lees in the Uusikaupunki, Finland, phone book.

But the summer resort town on the country’s southwest coast is where Old Dominion senior forward Gerald Lee Jr. grew up. He’s the son of an American basketball player who moved to Finland in 1973 after his career at Dowling College was over; Lee’s mom, Ritva, was a student in Helsinki when she met his father.

“My goal was always to come to America to play college basketball, ” said Lee, an All-CAA performer who averages 14.6 points and 4.9 rebounds for the Monarchs. “We’d visited family in Boston and Atlanta before, so it wasn’t that much of a culture shock for me.”

Lee’s mother saw her son play only once in college ““ Senior Day.

“It was the best moment of my career, ” he said. “To have my mom and dad here at the same time was very, very special.”

For those wondering, Uusikaupunki is pronounced “Oozk-kaw-punka.”

QUICK SHOTS: Former Hornets assistant Kenny Gattison, whose contract wasn’t renewed last summer, is a radio analyst for Old Dominion, the team he starred for in college. “ While no No. 16 team has ever beaten a No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament history, East Tennessee State has at least made it competitive both times it faced a No. 1. In 1989, ETSU lost to Oklahoma 72-71, and last year ETSU lost 72-62 to Pittsburgh. ” Kentucky senior forward Perry Stevenson, a Lafayette native, prepped at Northside.